Thank you for this ARC. Where to start. 6 characters holidaying together at a villa in Majorca during the 80’s. Something happens that unites them all together, Fast forward to the present and revenge is on some ones mind! A great read. Would thoroughly recommend to others.

A group of highly unlikeable graduates head off to Mallorca to celebrate the end of their time at Uni. A combination of drink, drugs and hedonistic behaviour lead to an accident, or is it? Flash forward twenty odd years and their past is catching up with the group through a series of anonymous communications threatening to reveal their secrets.
I had high hopes for this book based on the premise and the 80’s setting but the cast of underdeveloped characters I kept confusing were so unpleasant I didn’t care what happened to them. Reading this I kept thinking it would make a great tv series but as a book it really didn’t work for me.

Wow! What a book! It’s been a long time since I read through a book so quickly , on tenterhooks, literally biting my nails, on the edge of my seat. I just couldn’t put this book down. It was tense, exciting, thrilling , fast paced, gripping and so chilling with lots of twists and turns. I loved the author’s style of writing and what a great plot… so credible, you could see it really happening in real life. A sun soaked post graduation holiday, a beach party , an accident and everyone’s life is changed for ever. So what did happen that night and who’s going to pay? A brilliant read! I can’t praise it highly enough.
Many thanks to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

#TheBeachParty was a sizzling thriller, full of twists and suspense, set in picturesque Mallorca. A group of friends are having the holiday of their dreams but it all soon changes…I still don’t know why they went to that beach party?!! 😱😂 I loved the 80s vibes and slow burn tension. Tense tense tense!! A cracking poolside read.

I liked the cover of this book, the colours appealed to me and I thought it seemed like the perfect summer read. I was looking for a book to read quickly and expected to read this in a couple of days. It took me ten days which I think says it all.

The story is dual timeline and follows a group of university friends who go on a holiday to Mallorca in 1989. 33 years later, each of them receive an email telling them to go back to the villa otherwise the truth of what happened on the trip will be revealed.

Initially, I thought the story started quite well. I wanted to find out what had happened on the trip. Quite quickly, I became so bored with the story. It really dragged and the pace was so so slow. Most of the story is set in 1989 and considering it takes up a hefty chunk of the book, not much really happens.

The characters were underdeveloped and unlikeable, I didn’t much care what happened to them. Some characters seemed to be forgotten about and I wondered what the point was in making such a song and dance about them.

There wasn’t any tension or suspense in the story as it dragged so much. I felt like I was reading for hours and had hardly progressed through the book.

I thought that sprinklers seemed to be mentioned constantly in the story and I didn’t see what it added at all, it became irritating.

The ending was a strange mix of weak, unrealistic and abrupt.

I wanted to enjoy this book but unfortunately it wasn’t for me at all. I’m not sure if I would read more from this author.

First from this author for me and whilst i enjoyed the premise i didnt really enjoy the writing style or the way the characters came across in the book, i didnt feel as if i cared at all about any of the characters, it felt very far fetched and very convenient in parts and i didnt really like some of the plot twists. I am in no way taking away from the author it just wasnt a book i enjoyed but will still recommend to other thriller lovers.

Thanks for the advanced copy and i wish the author all the best for release

3 stars

This was a good twisty thriller, with parts that were really exciting but other parts dragged a bit for me and felt a tad slow. I did enjoy the duel timeline but there was a lot going on for a big amount of the book so I struggled to keep up at times! Overall a good read.

The Beach Party by Nikki Smith - We start with a group of 6 friends heading off for the holiday of a lifetime to Marbella. They have a villa, courtesy of self proclaimed leader of the pack Nina, whose parents own the place. But things take a turn after an accident resulting in lies, secrets and doubt throughout the group.

I was a little confused at first while I got to know all of the characters and the relationships between them all. I found myself flicking back to the start of a chapter to double check or remind myself whose perspective I’m reading from. The first part of the book is a bit of a slow burner, but then we go thick and fast with the secrets, the lies, the blackmail, the toxic friendships and actions that have you excited, scared and nervous all at once.

I won’t lie - I chose this book on NetGalley for the cover (yes I know the saying…) but this really came through as a great read for me from the second half. Interesting story, unlikeable characters, secrets exposed keep you on your toes, always wanting to turn to the next page as soon as possible.

Multiple timelines and multiple POV allows us to get to know the characters - despite most being unlikeable, I did find myself rooting for a couple of them, but I still didn’t trust their intensions.

The thing I loved most about this book was how descriptive the author was. I have a visual mind anyway, but I could honestly see myself in the scenes she was describing! I loved it!

A 4⭐️ review from me - thank you to NetGalley and publishers Penguin Random House for the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review

In 1989 after finishing Uni , Nina, who comes from a rich family, invites 5 friends to stay in the family Villa in Spain.After a couple of days there , there is a beach party some distance away. Nina suggests using the family speedboat to get there , so they do. The boys drive even though they have no nautical experience .Unfortunately there is an accident and somebody dies.. Nina is very manipulative and convinces them to say nothing and later gets the boys to take the damaged boat out at night and sink it..Somebody knows what has happened and years later gets them back to the Villa to face the truth.But who and why now? A very exciting story with an unexpected ending.

I enjoy a book that has dual timelines and multiple points of view so this book was perfect for that. I did feel that the beginning was longer than it perhaps needed to be, however when the reveals started I understood why.

This was an easy read with short chapters keeping the story flowing. I was intrigued to see how it all played out. The story threw in some curve balls but then had some twists and red herrings that I wasn't sure were necessary to keep a reader interested.

Overall I think this makes for a fun summer read for anyone who likes a little mystery in their beach reading.

Six friends spend the summer after their final exams in a holiday villa by the beach in Mallorca. One night, they go to a party with locals. Alcohol flows and as night falls, tragedy strikes.

What really happened that night is a collective secret that is kept for more than 30 years, but now someone wants the truth to be uncovered.

The plot alternates seamlessly from the 80s to the present day and the characters are carefully crafted. The atmosphere and heat are cleverly built up and there's twists and turns galore.

A scorchingly tense summer thriller for 2023!

This book follows a group of friends, both on holiday over 30 years ago and in the present, that have been hiding some dark secrets all these years. An email is sent calling all of them back to the island where their fun holiday took a turn for the worst.

This was such a fun and dark read! It had all the elements you'd want from a summer mystery novel and it'd make for a perfect binge read by the pool or on the beach! The characters in this book really make the story. There are a whole range of personalities and while they all seem friends, there is definitely some toxicity brewing. Some of them are even downright unhinged, and I love to see it! I really enjoyed seeing this mystery unfold and there were some shocking moments that I didn't see coming!

The Beach Party is full of drama, sun and mystery, making it a perfect summer read!

* Please look up trigger warnings before reading *

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A new author to me, I enjoyed this book although a little slow in places. I'm looking forward to reading the next book when available.

This book was an enjoyable easy read. I would say it's more on the lines of a mystery rather than a thriller. It had a very complex plot, with lots of twists and turns which all came together well by the end.

I did find this more of a slow burner of a read, it was engaging, however I felt some things needed condensed or perhaps weren't completely necessary. I really enjoyed Nikki's writing style and would try more of her reads.

The main story focus is on a group of unconventional friends. They know each other from college years and go holiday for one last blow out before adulting. Some of the friendships are built on vulnerability and power with overlapping toxicity. You follow the group in July 1989 and present time. July 1989 is meant to be the holiday of a lifetime, but one beach party disaster tears their lives apart.

The chapters are both long and short; this is depending on chracter and storyline. Each character had an interesting back story, they were well developed and all played a partial role to the bitter sweet ending.

This story had a good suspense to it, it was unpredictable, full of drama and a great summer read.

I just didn't connect with it as much as I thought I would.

Six graduates are bound by a secret which could have cost them their degrees, except that Nina had come up with a scheme. Nina always has a scheme. It is 1989 and they are all off to her parent’s villa in Mallorca for a few weeks of sun, sand, booze, and drugs. They have been friends for their whole time at University, so their relationship is not dependent on that secret, but it does colour and define them. Nina is rich, bright, well-connected while the others are more down market and at least a couple owe their degree to her. She is a natural leader and also completely egocentric. Their sexual relationships are mostly platonic, not overt, more like dependencies. Seb owes everything to Nina, Aiden is “in the closet” (remember it’s 1989), Will has a brother in jail and doesn’t have space for a lover, Zoe is in unrequited love with Will, Claire is fixated on Nina and a committed druggie, and Nina is Queen. Seb hooks up with a local girl, Gaby, and she invites them all to a Beach Party. And that’s where it all goes wrong. Jump forward to the present and they have all gone their separate ways but remain tied to the incident following the Beach Party. And then they all get an e-mail from someone claiming to know what happened that night, and requesting that they come back to the Villa (no longer owned by Nina’s family) on threat of exposure. So what happened, why did it happen, how did it affect them, who is the blackmailer?
I don’t have a problem with lots of questions, it’s usually a positive sign. In this case a lot of the confusion comes from the layout of the book. We have two timelines, mostly that for 1989, and shifting viewpoints, and obfuscating revelations about their history prior to the start, most of which isn’t that difficult to predict and appears to be there mainly to hide the fact that there are no real red herrings. The ending makes sense but is still a bit untidy. So an ideal beach read, requiring no real thought. There is an audience for that sort of story and I’m sure it will do well with that audience.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

The Beach Party is the ultimate pool side read this summer. Deeply seductive, with addictive prose and a plot that has so many twist, turns and delicious secrets, you won't want to put it down. And you will without a doubt want a dip in the pool once you've finished reading it.

For me, a great thriller has to have short, punchy chapters - the kind that reel you in and then keep you reading 'just one more chapter...' The Beach Party has exactly that and I rattled through it at a rate of knots!

Based mainly in Mallorca, this manages to be a beach read while also skilfully building the tension. The story is told through multiple POVs so the perspective keeps changing and I found this helped to hook me more. As I found out more about each character's backstory I became more invested, even when they were behaving badly (some way more than others).

The author has managed to build a vibrant world capturing the hot sunny holiday setting, with the underlying edge of darkness never far away. The story is fresh and did not feel in any way formulaic, the ending also surprised me - I was kept guessing right to the end, which was a satisfying conclusion to a great read. I could not put it down and had to find out what happened - exactly what you want from a thriller! Highly recommended.

I found this similar to other books I’ve read. Six friends holiday in Mallorca and hide secrets of what happened there until they are all summoned back again by an anonymous text. The characters aren’t particularly likeable and it didn’t hold me attention much. An average thriller.

6 friends spend time e on holiday when something happens. Years later they get a summons to appear at the same villa.
The story is OK but the characters are a bit two dimensional and stereotypical. I can't believe that the person with the money would have so much control over the others. Then it takes until 90% through the book for them to all meet again, making the ending a bit rushed.

This was an intriguing book and the swapping of timelines kept me somewhat interested. It was an unusual story where friends are summoned to return to the scene of a crime, but who has done the summoning? I did not guess the outcome but I did unfortunately lose interest by the end of the book and found the ending unrealistic and unbelievable. I am sure others would enjoy this book but unfortunately, it was not one for me.